Jonathan Moyo had created so many enemies during his first stint as Information Minister that Botswana celebrated his dismissal from the cabinet when he was expelled from the party for refusing to step down as Tsholotsho candidate for the 2005 parliamentary elections to give way to a woman candidate.
The director of the Africa and Asia Division for Botswana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Manyepedza Lesetedi said Moyo had widened the rift between Botswana and Zimbabwe because he had a tendency to deal with the differences between the two countries through the media.
Lesetedi said that under Moyo any Zimbabwean with a complaint against Botswana spoke freely about it which was exasperating for Botswana because it exercised careful discipline regarding which government officials spoke and what they said about Zimbabwe.
Several senior Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front members were also happy to see Moyo go because they felt that he had no respect for his seniors including the Vice-President and national chairman.
Moyo won the Tsholotsho seat as an independent candidate beating both the ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change candidates.
He won the seat again three years later, but lost in 2013 when he contested under the ZANU-PF ticket.
Below are the Wikileaks cables that mention Moyo’s name:
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